Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The Church’s liturgical year begins today with our entrance into the preparatory season of Advent. Like the season of Lent, these four weeks are marked by a spirit of penance, though, as you know, that penance is traditionally different in its expression in this time leading to the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord. While the penance of Lent is marked by fasting and atonement for sin, the penance of Advent is marked more by the self-control required to restrain our joy as we anticipate the coming of Christ. Restrained joy is not…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Do you remember a time when you were unaware, and more importantly, indifferent, to who occupied the highest political office? Do you remember when you learned that there was such a thing as a President? Do you remember having no emotional attachment to the office or the man who occupied it? Once upon a time, the fact that we had a leader was a proposition to which we were entirely indifferent. Wasn’t that a great time? Eventually, we grow up and begin to take notice of the world around us and we experience an…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As the Church’s liturgical year draws to a close in these next few weeks, our Scripture readings turn, as you know, to reminders of persecution, death, and our eternal end. During the next two weeks, the weekday Mass readings are mainly drawn from Maccabees and from the Prophet Daniel, apocalyptic readings, not in the sense of gloom and doom, but in that they focus our attention on the salvific plan of God that unfolds in a world that often appears dark. In the midst of this darkness, the Scriptures we read call us to…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This week, the Church in the United States marks National Vocation Awareness Week. In particular, these are days set aside to teach about, promote, and pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. In the past, I’ve told the story of my own call to the priesthood and the ways in which God used classmates, friends, and people in the parish to make His voice more clear in my own heart. There is no doubt in my mind that St. Pius X is a parish that can amplify the voice of Jesus for…read more